Jackpot

I found this little beauty last night:

Check this out:

I hit the jackpot for pre-packed high calorie foods for AJ.    Children with cerebral burn twice as many calories as the typical child. AJ is still on an extremely high calorie diet.To the point where his GI has literally told us not to worry about fruits and vegetables.  I worried about sodium content, he was not.  If we fed him McDonalds and Culvers every meal, every day, they would be thrilled. Jeremy and I, not so much.  With Jeremy being a RN, CDE, everything we feed AJ kinda goes against what he teaches.  We could write a how-to book, which would feed (no pun intended) the current problems with childhood obesity.  What you shouldn't feed your kids, we are required to feed our kid. 

I am often the "crazy lady" in the store who exclaims, "Ugh! Thats not enough calories!!"  I've gotten some pretty weird stares with that one.  When I found the meal above, I cheered. Again, some pretty weird stares.  I came home and played show and tell right away.  What's even more sad is that my Mom and Jer celebrated with me when I showed them the package.  He ate the whole thing for lunch today.  720 calories, down the hatch.

He continues to drink Kid Essentials  {250 calories for 8oz} in place of regular milk.  This is Nestle's version of Pediasure, and it tastes a whole lot better (the vanilla and chocolate do, AJ does like the orange, banana, and berry Pediasure flavors).  Anyhow, Kid Essentials comes in 6-pks for about $10.  Yeah.  Be aware when ripping open the cardboard that the manufacturer has a coupon for $5 off of 2 packs printed on the inside of the cardboard.  We've also gotten $5 off each coupons from AJ's GI office, so I tend to stock up when I have the double coupons.  Last time I stocked up I saved $60.

He also drinks chocolate milk and apple juice.  AJ's dentist continues to be concerned about his lack of fluoride (it is not in our water), so we are now making frozen 100% apple juice concentrate with the baby water that has fluoride added. I also water down the juice quite a bit by adding more water than the traditional 3 cans. AJ has never been a water drinker. Sigh. 

His dentist is still contemplating fluoride drops for AJ.  Why is fluoride important?  Why should you not have too much fluoride?  In the meantime, we use the fluoride water for his juice and give him foods rich in fluoride, like broccoli.  We also have to have him brush his teeth multiple times a day and rinse his mouth everytime he drinks his Kid Essentials or juice, as he has weak teeth.

AJ has the typical routine of a toddler, where they eat like crazy and then the next day they may eat like a bird.  This used to drive us absolutely insane.  When you have a child who has failure to thrive, your child not eating is not an option.  It never fails, even if it goes for 2 days or so, he'll bounce back and eat like a horse.  I do my best to mix in fruits and veggies with whatever he's eating.  He loves spinach, and many other things most kids won't eat.  So I'm not complaining.  He rocks the spinach and artichoke dip from California Pizza Kitchen.  I wish they had that in the freezer section at the stores. He does like my recipe, but not as much as CPK. 

We try to limit his sweet intake.  We've found other ways to get the calories in.  Rest assured, we make sure he gets his fair share of ice cream, cookies and cake.  Jeremy and I both grew up loving fruits and vegetables and always joked that we'd feed our child uber healthy. Guess that didn't work out.

Other than the Kid Essentials, I do not buy any calorie supplements, powders, etc.  My weapon of choice is vegetable oil.  I add vegetable oil to his yogurt, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, pudding.  Anything I can successfully mix it in to.  There is no taste (I've tasted it in his foods before).  The variety of foods AJ eats is incredible. He no longer gets stuck in a pattern of only wanting chicken nuggets or craisins.

I've also learned to just let him eat. and not to stress over it so much.  He's gone from 13 lbs to 25 lbs in almost 3 years.  While he is still tiny, (25 lbs 34in tall at almost 4), he's come a long way.  I can usually count on someone in his school stopping me and saying, "He's so cute!  And tiny!  How old is he?"  "Almost 4."  "Oh." (followed by uncomfortable silence)  Another example of my "Oh Factor".  Te-He.  AJ has all of a sudden started gaining weight at a phenomonal pace.  Who knows what suddenly triggered this growth.  His GI continues to be happy with his progress, and that's all I'm really worried about.

Oh, and I'm sure Boston Market will have no problem with me buying out my local store's stock of frozen meals.